Life's Challenges
by Judgementlovesrangerandsteph
Summary: Minor adult themes, no language Steph struck it rich... Ranger is back... Morelli is gone. R/S HEA.  Diesel joins in on the fun because of the... ZEBRAS! I don't own anythin
1. Chapter 1

**Life's Challenges**

I had been thinking about what had happened in the last months. I had bought a lottery ticket, won 112 billion dollars, gotten myself trained, bought houses, apartments, and some condos all over, stocked each up with weapons, own 5 businesses, world-class horse stables, a dog rescue center, and more, and I had hid it from the public. Ranger and crew had been gone a year, letting me do this alone. Just before Ranger had left, he proposed with a brilliant sapphire and diamond ring.

There was a knock at the door. I walked and saw through the peephole that it was Morelli. I smiled. Show time.

"Hey, cupcake" He said, sauntering in.

"Morelli" I said, pulling a gun on him, blank mask sliding into place. Another knock. "Hold your hands up and slowly walk towards the couch. One muscle misplaced, and your dead" I stated, the door opening with a

"Babe…" Ranger immediately pulled out on of his guns. He was followed by Lester, Tank, Hal, Cal, and Hector, all doing the same.

"Morelli cheated on me and guess who told me?" I said, walking to the couch where Morelli was frozen. "Diesel" Ranger was tense, a cold, dead stare in his eyes, and his finger on the trigger of his pistol. He had a scar that ran from his wrist to in between his ring and middle fingers.

"What? Cupcake, I didn't do that" I smirked. He wasn't in a good place. Seven guns, trained on him.

"And the master does it again. Yet another amazing feat. Five lies in _two_ hours! Give the man a round of **bullets to the forehead**!" I said; smirking.

"Cupcake I didn't do that!" He was standing up, waving his arms; not a smart position to be in.

"Really? Then what is this tape I gave Steph?" Diesel said, strolling in.

He pushed a button, playing out loud "_Yea, Steph will never know. She's too stupid and trustworthy. Manoso is gone, don't know where he is or when he'll be back, and don't care. Because by the time he's back, she'll be mine_"

"Well? Does that sound innocent?" I asked turning to face Ranger and Crew.

Lester raised his hand "No. It sounds like he needs to be shot!"

"I'll do it!" Chorused throughout the room. I had to smile.

"Babe" He nodded towards Diesel "Why is he here?"

"Long story" Diesel replied. "But to condense it, zebras escaped from a zoo, wrecked a paint shop, and ate my house." I giggled.

"Liar" Tank said "You're here because your house burned down" Ranger raised his eyebrow

"I still didn't say that!" Morelli butted in.

"Seriously? I think you'd best leave. And if you don't I'll have Lester, Tank, and Cal take you for me." I said, walking into the kitchen. I handed Ranger a file "San Fran. Due by Monday" He nodded.

"I suggest you leave Morelli. Because if we escort you, you won't like it" Cal boomed. With that, Morelli left. The crew went through my kitchen, looking for ample food, while Diesel crashed on the couch.

"Babe?"

"He's just a friend, and he can cook. Why shouldn't I let him crash? Besides, he's with Connie." I sat in an armchair and stole the remote from Diesel.

"Is the skip really in San Fran? Or did you want the idiot gone?" Ranger asked turning the TV off

"Both" I turned to the kitchen and yelled "Lester!"

"Yes beautiful?" He replied, coming in with some Chex mix.

"Shotgun under my bed. Got it from Connie. Said it was yours." I stated. He got the gun and said

"This isn't mine. Mine's older."

"I know hand it to me." I took it and fired it at one of my walls, they were bulletproof, and the gun had a silencer!

"You have a shotgun?" Five, with silencers. And 3 Glocks, 2 Desert Eagles, one with stock, one without, 2 semi-automatics, 3 automatic Uzis, and 5 .45 S&W's. All from Connie, all licensed, all legal, all mine, all had enough ammo for a week, constant fire, and all had silencers.

Ranger looked like he was going to faint "What?"

"Out loud?" I asked

"Yeah" Diesel replied

"You have 20 guns?"

"I have 25 knives" I stated casually.

"What the heck? What happened to the old Steph?" Hector said, mumbling something afterwards.

"You were gone for a year and a half. I won the lottery, got trained, bought a house, a few apartments, and took care of Morelli. That's all within the last 6 months. And the weapons, that's only here, in NYC"

"You're kidding me" Hal stated, sitting on a barstool and fixing a glass of red wine.

"Not one bit. You didn't think I would lie, would you?" I asked, getting up and making my favorite snack; calamari. When I was done, I walked into the living room and flopped onto the loveseat with Carlos.

"What's that?"

"Calamari" I responded popping some in my mouth.

"Cala what?" Diesel asked

"Fried squid legs"

"Yum!" He jumped up and grabbed a handful. "This is good!" I laughed.

"You eat squid legs?" Carlos asked, eating some from the large bowl.

"_Fried _Squid Legs" I stated.

"Should've known" He said with a grin.

"How's Lula?" Tank asked.

"Thanks for asking. She's fine, well; I would be too if I married a billionaire." I stated

"She WHAT!" He boomed, eyes bugged.

"I'm only kidding. She I gave her 5 million, and she bought herself a red Porsche, a red house, and a red wardrobe. She's driving me NUTS! You are kicked out, you have to go get Lula to shut up!" I groaned, "She's calling me every day saying 'Are Batman and the A-team back yet? Are you hiding them?' If she does it again.." and my pink droid rang. I pressed speaker, and the room was filled with

"White girl! I know you have them! Batman and the A-team are never gone for this long! You owe me! I haven't seen Tank in One year, Six months, eighteen days, five hours, thirty six minutes, and twenty three seconds!" She accused

"Lula, come on down here. They are here, they just got back. And bring Connie, Diesel is suffering with drawls." She laughed at that. I turned on a favorite song of mine, Pink's raise your glass.

The lyrics started and I sang along. Connie and Lula walked in, Lula running to Tank, Connie taking off her jacket and walking to Diesel.

"Mm that feels good" I mumbled when Carlos started massaging my lower back. I leaned in to his chest and closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was in my bed, and I heard the door opening. I slipped my hand down my long leg and grabbed a Desert Eagle and a knife, quietly tucking the knife in my… Where's my waistband? I just felt lace… Oh no, no no no! I reached and felt my bra, good… I wasn't completely naked. The person came closer, and I prepared to shoot them, grabbing hold of the gun.

"Babe, wake up" I heard, I smiled and opened my eyes. Carlos.

"Carlos why am I here?" I sat up under the chocolate and beige sheets laying my gun on the covers, next to the knife.

"You fell asleep. I brought you up" He smiled and sat on the bed. Yay, Carlos brought me into my bedroom, where he stripped me down into my chocolate and beige underwear. This couldn't get any better! I'm **not** being sarcastic.

I smiled at him "Carlos, can you bring me the light pink iPad? I'd like to show you something" He reached over and grabbed my iPad and handed it to me. I started it up and pulled up a screen listing my properties, assets, and businesses, etc. "This is me. Everything I own." I handed it to him.

"Babe, wow! This is amazing, the things that are here. The numbers add up to be… Whoa…" He looked amazed at the spreadsheet.

"You have the magic black card, right?" He nodded. I reached and pulled out my card, "I have the magic beige card" He smiled. "Ranger, I know over five languages, fluently. I can speak English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, and Cherokee. I know the cultures of the world, when I go somewhere now, I blend." I smiled and took the iPad from him, shutting it off.

"Let's head downstairs and fix breakfast" I said, sliding out of bed and walking leisurely into the wardrobe to dress, picking peach scoop neck tee with a logo on front, reading "To learn to fly, you must know when fall" and tight jeans. I strolled out to find Carlos looking at pictures on my mahogany dresser.

"What's that?" He asked, pulling me into his arms.

"A picture of you and me, silly" I reached and grabbed it "Connie and Lula took it." It was me and him kissing in front of the bonds office, I had just gotten back from a trip to Illinois for a friend's funeral; that's where I had found my winning numbers, the day, month, and year of her death.

"I know that" I walked over and opened up a mahogany jewelry chest up, pulling out a ring and slipping it on my left ring finger, replacing a platinum band that was there earlier. "Babe, Why was your ring not on?"

"I was afraid I would lose one of the stones. And also if I wore it the Burg would go crazy, so I bought a platinum one to match it, and I wear that every day." I smiled

"Babe…" He was interrupted by Connie coming up and announcing

"If you aren't down if five minutes, I'm bringing my Nikon and taking pictures of you both tonight!" Ranger paled, and then motioned her out.

"I have to fly this afternoon, I have a meeting with my business manager in San Fran, and I also have to get that skip. If you want to stay here, have fun, but I have to head out!" I said reaching up to kiss him then I hurried down before we got caught tonight. I met the guys downstairs, getting comments, whistles, and flirts that is, until Ranger walked down, giving me an earth-shattering kiss then starting to fix breakfast for us.


	2. Chapter 2

**Life's Challenges**

High Skies

**Chapter 2**

I drove to the airstrip and parked my red Ferrari in the hanger; I grabbed Carlos' hand and towed him to a tan jet. I performed various safety checks before clearing for take-off and launching into the air.

"Babe?" _Ranger_ asked when we were set. "How did all this happen?"

"How did what happen?"

"How did you become rich, learn all this, and in the meantime hide it." It had become very well known within twenty four hours of the A-team returning. I had a full inbox; but it was all auto-deleted before I listened to it. "How did Rangeman not know, and how did you get the pink Lexus in the garage?"

"I'll start with the one that bothers you most?" I questioned, grabbing my Droid and shutting it off.

"The Lexus." He smirked.

"Alejandro pulled some strings." I hope this slips…

"Who?" He tensed. I should have known.

"My bodyguard, Raphael insisted that while you were away, I had to have a body guard." Raphael, Carlos' Brother, had been so nice to me. He had provided me with resources, means, immunity, money if and when I needed it, everything except for the one thing I needed the most, Ricardo "Ranger" Carlos Manoso.

"That's good; He'd be dead by now if he didn't." He smiled, then leaned over and kissed me before walking to the back of my plane and returning with sweet ice tea.

"You found my secret drink" I grinned. I had visited South Carolina once and gotten hooked on the sweet tea, Kentucky on horse racing, Florida on sports cars. I had passions now I'd never have had before, like my Ferrari. Well, maybe I'd have the Ferrari anyway, but, you get the point.

"I'm impressed, Babe. You can fly, you have a Ferrari…"

"Four Ferraris." I smiled. "Six Porches, Five Lexus, and then the other vehicles, like the trucks, sedans, and SUVs my employees drive. When one of my employees gets a ticket, its chaos figuring out which car it was. And if you look me up at the DMV, I hope you have a lot of time!" I laughed at Ranger's face, oh the shock.

"Who are you and where did you put Stephanie?" Lester asked.

"How did you get on this plane?" Carlos yelled

"I followed you here and snuck in during the safety checks." Of course.

"Who else is here?" I questioned, handing the controls over to Carlos.

"Tank, Cal, Hal, me, Diesel, Alejandro, Connie, Lula, Grandma Mazur, Raphael, Hector, and Bobby." Oh boy. I smiled and walked into the midsection of the plane.

"Hey guys! How did you get here?" I questioned sweetly, walking over to a cabinet that held spare electronics. I withdrew a case of Apple stuff, walking around and setting the box in the middle of the floor. I grabbed a stack of ultra lite laptops and passed them around, stating "If I hear a word from you, I'll throw you out of this plane. Not a friendly drop at oh some 10,000 feet." I walked back and grabbed cords. "Plug them in if you run out of battery. There is a hotspot attached to the USB. Have fun." I turned and then thought of something, "Oh, and Grandma, no porn, please" She looked like I had smashed a prized vase. "And no pictures of my fiancé, either"

"Dam..." She almost muttered.

"Grandma!" I warned. I strolled lazily back to the cockpit and took over the controls.

"Babe, why all the laptops?" I sighed.

"When I first started flying, everyone would come with me. So I learned to entertain them, you had to have stuff to occupy them. I started keeping stuff on board, laptops, iPads, E-Readers, MP3's, etc. They are all monitored, have built-in spending accounts and limits, and can be personalized down to the color of the keyboard. I figured that Grandma can't do much damage with $1,000,except all the … costumes. She's already got 2 MP3's, 2 iPads, and 2 E-Readers." Yeah, she pretty much had everything, except a driver's license. But why do you need one when you have a driver, anyway?

"Babe, you need to quit spending money." I knew that.

"I have plenty of income, I make more money in a month than I used to a year." Way more. He just sighed.

"Not because of that, because your _my_ babe, and I enjoy making you happy. I'm home now, and I don't want to wait on everyone else to finish what they're doing before I get my turn." He stated, nodding towards the midsection of the plane.

"Fine. But I get to pay my way half the time. And I need my freedom, you know that." I declared, then I smiled stating "or Grandma gets you for a day… and night" He looked green. Ha!

"Carlos" I mumbled, rolling over and looping my arms around his neck, kissing him deeply before he woke up.

"I could get used to that wake-up call" He smiled, pulling me down for another kiss. God I loved this man.

"I love you" I said.

"I love you too"

"The elves and I have a meeting at 10. I want you to meet them. You should like them, Sally Sweet came back, so my boys are home" I smiled against his lips when I felt him tense, "Don't worry, most are married, engaged, gay, or just too busy for a partner." I said, rolling off him and stumbling into my large wardrobe, as I wasn't… clothed. I chose a blood red bra and pantie set in black lace, with a flowing red sundress that ended mid-thigh and red two inch sandals that strapped over my ankle. Ranger walked in and dressed in black slacks and a white (!) shirt that hung loosely around his body. I smiled and walked back to my dresser, pulling my hair into a pony tail that ended about an inch longer than my shoulder blades. When I turned around, I ran into Ranger, hitting my shoulder blade on the dresser, causing an old cut to break open and start lightly bleeding. Ranger grabbed some cotton and dabbed it on it, and the bleeding stopped.

"Babe, how'd that happen?" I avoided his gaze and focused on my feet...

"I was chasing a skip when he threw me into a sidewalk. Lula electrocuted him with some strange new stun gun, and then I got up to my back bleeding. I also cut open my right hand, between my middle and ring finger down my wrist." I lied holding my hand up where you could see a faint scar.

"I have a scar like the one on your hand. It's a cut, and that fall wouldn't cause your back to scar or break open, it would cause bruises at worst, and maybe some skinned knee or shoulder." Crap. He was onto me…

"Morelli, he is a complete idiot. He approached me a few weeks ago, and I shot him in the kneecap. He asked me if I had a secret and I told him yes, and that he wouldn't be able to find out to save his life. He challenged me, and grabbed hold of my wrist. He had a knife in his hand, that's why I have the scar. When he asked what it was, and I broke his nose, I couldn't let him know."

"You couldn't let him know what?" He asked, grabbing my hand and kissing it.

"The night you proposed I got pregnant. I hid it from everyone by living in NYC. We have a daughter named Camille Marie Manoso." I smiled. "She has my eyes, and she has the darkest hair I've ever seen. She lives with a friend of mine, Celia. We're meeting her for lunch."

The 10:00 meeting went well, with Ranger only trying to kill one guy, a new kid called 'striker', who tried to ask me out, only to find a ring on my finger, a gun to his head, and his job(and life) at risk. He quickly backed off. No-one flirts with the boss lady! I lazily walked to the Porsche 911 parked in the garage, beeping it open and sliding in next to Ranger, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

"I need to go shopping for some new clothes; Alejandro is assigned to me again today. And Lula is coming with." I stated, cranking the engine over and listening to the smooth purr it released. God I loved this car! We slid from the garage, the shiny red body of the car reflecting our surroundings.

"When are you going home?" Ranger asked, grabbing my hand from the console of the car and starting to rub it gently.

"I'm picking up Camille at lunch, then we're headed to Greece, for a break, and I'll be in Trenton by Friday." It was Saturday, and I so desperately wanted to take Carlos away and just relax. Now we where equals, theoretically, but I wanted to live with Ranger, and be able to forget my life, just focus on him, Camille, and us.

"I'll fly us, you must be exhausted, you got less than six hours of sleep. I'm fine on that, you can't be" He said as the car rolled to a stop in front of a café.

**A/n: Sorry for not updating, and leaving you on an edge, but I haven't decided about the next chapter, so I'll upload hopefully, in less than a week! |JLRS|**


	3. Chapter 3

**Life's Challenges Ch3**

I strolled into the café and spotted Camille and Celia at a table by the windows. I smiled and walked over, Ranger close behind with Alejandro in the back corner watching us.

"Celia! Cami how are you, baby?" I asked, lifting her in the air and bringing her down into my arms. She smiled and giggled when Celia made a funny look at Ranger. "Would you like to hold her?" I asked him

"Sure" he took her from me and started whispering to her in Spanish. He looked at me through the corner of his eye, smiling at me.

"I'm starved, hungry?" I questioned, sitting down at the table.

"Yea, me too. So how have you been Steph? We've missed you!" Celia said, smiling and ordering from the waiter.

"Good, I had to fly over to England yester week." She smiled at that. "Mom was harassing me, again. The same old 'Marry Joe, he's your last chance at happiness!' And I told her Bite Me or Kiss it, it was her choice. She did neither, I left, and well, Morelli… well, idiot. That sums us up!" I said, Celia looked at me, looked at Ranger, and then looked at me, stating:

"You're psychotic. You're insane, crazy, a lunatic, moron, not wired right! Something's off up there!" She exclaimed making a crazy sign at Ranger.

"I know" He stated, handing me Camille back.

"Why am I crazy?" I questioned.

"You stood up to the burg! No-one does that!" She exclaimed, "I bow down to you"

"Ha. What's been up with you?" I asked, sipping some water.

"Not much other than her." She said motioning to Camille.

"Well, this has been nice, but we've gotta fly! Love ya, Celia!" I said, hugging her and walking to my Porsche, placing Cami in the backseat, which had a carrier in it. I hopped in the passenger seat and Ranger drove us to the airport.

My phone rang from the bedside table; I recognized the ring, muttering

"Daggone stupid loud freaking phone!" I glared at the face on my screen: Lula.

She laughed, "Wassup girl? I'm down here in the little ole cabin, you?" She was referring to her house about a mile down the path from mine. I owned a little island off the coast Athens, and we loved to walk down to the other's house, or more like mansion, and swim.

"Well, you woke me up. I need to get Cami up, and get dressed and I'll be down. Seen Ranger?" I explained looking over at the other side of my bed, empty. Sheets cool.

"Yeah, he picked tank up and went to the unknowns…that would be 5:00 so, two hours ago." She announced, while I was trying to figure out a good way to kill Ranger for not waking me.

"Crap! I needed to be up then! It's seven! Good god! I have to go; can you watch Cami for a while?" I asked, flinging myself out of bed, as I ran to the closet, I scooped up Cami from her crib, and started dressing her, as I got my stuff together. She ended up more clothed than me. I was semi-dressed in a pink tank top, shorts, Nike running shoes, my iPod on my arm in an armband, a Glock at my back, knife at my right ankle, gun at my left, and a peachy jacket thrown over my shoulders, so I wasn't completely revealed, should Tank be home when I got there. Lula had told me she would be happy to take Cami while I was busy doing whatever, she didn't ask, and I told her I'd be there in ten. I slid into my Porsche, and drove Cami over on my lap. She started to grab the wheel and try to drive, but I laughed and stopped her before she could wreck the car. We arrived at 7:09, and Lula was laughing on the porch when we got there, staring at her iPad.

"Hey my adorable little niece!" She exclaimed, grabbing her and holding her up. "Tank and Ranger just went for a run. Said they'd be back in thirty."

"Thanks, I'm going to follow, know where they went?" I asked, putting my ear buds in and turning the iPod on.

"Yeah, went down that trail" she pointed. "You might be able to catch them, if you hurry"

"Thanks!" I ran off down the trail, and I could see where they had been running, so I knew I was getting closer. Pretty soon, I saw someone's foot go around the bend in the trail, and I sped up.

"Hey Ranger, Where's Tank?" I asked when I caught him, looking over at him.

"What?" He said, looking at me, "Oh hey, I'd thought you'd be in bed still."

"Tank. Lula said he was running with you" I rolled my eyes "I woke up twenty minutes ago." I said glancing at my watch.

"Yeah, he's up ahead." He said slowing down slightly. "I'm surprised you joined us."

"Don't worry about me. I can keep up." I smiled passing him and jumping a small ditch in the path. Tank had stopped bent over.

"You okay, Big Guy?" I asked, slowing to a stop.

"Why are you here?" He questioned, looking up at me.

"Morning run and these trails are beautiful." I said, bending to tie my shoe.

"I can see. But I'd think you were in bed still. Where's your child, anyway?" He asked, looking around. Ranger raised his eyebrow.

"Lula. See ya!" I started running again, only to be caught up with. I changed trails, "That one leads to the safe house, guest house, marina, and airport. Come on. This leads over to the beach." Ranger and Tank followed me, and we were at the beach in minutes. I took my jacket off ran down the beach, looking back to find Tank's eyes scanning me. "Cut it out!" I told him when I got back. "I'm going for a swim at the house. Ya'll comin?" They nodded, and I started walking down the trail.

"When did you start running, Bombshell?" I smiled.

"Right after I found out I was pregnant." I tied my jacket around my waist.

"What the..." I heard Ranger say; I looked up and saw my car racing by

"Crap!" I looked at the driver's seat, Lula. "Never mind, not my car… wait, Dammit!" I pulled my gun out and shot the tire when she raced by again. She jumped out and planted her hands on her hips.

"What was that for? Now I need this repaired!" Lula exclaimed. I walked over to the passenger side and kicked the tire.

"It's fine, I'll fix it, take it over to the garage." I looked in the window. "Where's Cami?" I asked.

"At my house" Lula said, like we were discussing how much we liked the beach.

"Why? She's alone?" I yelled, meanwhile Tank was trying to keep from getting hit or shot - I still had my Glock in hand. Ranger was just watching, arms crossed, until Lula said Cami was at home.

"No! Marie came to clean and restock, and she's watching her!" Marie was Lula's housekeeper.

"Yay, now, take it to the garage, I'll be there in thirty ish." She drove it off, kind of, down the paved road.

"Garage?" Ranger asked from behind me.

"Mechanic's garage. I can fix almost anything wrong with my cars." I slipped my hand into the pocket of my jacket and pulled out my Droid. I showed him a map of the island. "We're here, and the garage is here. I need to get there, but Ya'll can head back."

I pulled up to my house three hours later to find Ranger watching TV with Cami on his lap, rubbing her belly.

"I'm going upstairs to change, be right back." I told him, walking upstairs and stripping down. I changed into jeans, Nikes, a V-neck tee shirt, and pulled my hair into a ponytail. I walked back down and kissed ranger, slapping the back of Tank's head, getting his attention.

"I need to go to Athens, if Ya'll are comin, hurry up." I announced, Lula turning to me.

"Okay, you flying or taking the boat?"

"Flying." I said

"I'll ride. Where are you going?"

"I need to talk to my real estate agent and see how things are going, and my business has had some problems. I need to let _him_ go. He tried to kill an employee." I said spitting the word. Lula winced when I said that

"Again?" She asked, getting up and walking with me through the door

"Yeah. I think he just needs to get his ass kicked." I said, shaking my head and leaning against a Lexus.

"Who is he?" Ranger asked, walking up and taking me in his arms, kissing me then walking to the passenger seat of the sports sedan.

"Ryan. He was my first employee, but he's gone psych since then." I explained, slipping into my car.

"Why is he here?"

"You think I'd torture Trenton with him? No, I sent him here so Liam could straighten him out. Apparently not." I parked the car by a hanger and walked in, a Cessna sitting at the ready. Lula followed me up the ramp and sat in the co-pilot's seat, checking with Athens' airbase to ensure we were clear to land when we arrived. Between the two of us, the checks where done in minutes and we were in the air within a half hour. I left Lula to pilot and strolled to see what ranger and tank where doing. Big surprise, they were silent.

"Bombshell, why Athens?" Tank asked.

"Beauty, Culture, and DFTCPIT" I said.

"What?" Ranger asked, looking up at me.

"Distance from the Crazy People in Trenton." I laughed. Lula laughed, too. "Who's driving the plane?" I asked, shoving past her and throwing myself in the pilot's seat. I had to pull the nose up quickly before we landed in the ocean. Muttering in French, I called Lula in. "You do know that we were about to be fish food, right?" I asked through clenched teeth

"No. I thought it had autopilot" She responded, sounding like goofy.

"Well congratulations, we almost where." I rolled my eyes and ten minutes later, we were in Athens.

"Liam! It's great to see you!" I said, running up to the blonde man with grey eyes and giving him a hug.

"Belle! How have you been?" He asked me, kissing my cheek.

"Great! Liam, you've heard of Ranger, and his right-hand man, Tank." I said, introducing the men.

"Welcome to Athens. I hope Belle doesn't overwhelm you." He greeted from behind his mirrored glasses.

"Belle?" Tank asked. Ranger was silent, but pulled me to his side.

"Beautiful in French. He always calls me that in French, instead of English to prevent the smart asses *Adam* from teasing." I explained. "Follow me inside. Liam, get Adam and Leo."

We moved into my two story office, and I gave them the tour. I started the dreaded walk to where Ryan would be working. Ranger stopped me on the way.

"Babe, you don't have to do this." He said, rubbing my arms.

"No I have to. He needs to get out before there's more trouble. Come on" I sighed and followed Liam to the base of operations where Ryan was on paperwork duties.

"Steph why are you here?" He growled.

"You know it's rude to attempt assassinations on Tuesday" I stated, lazily walking to Ally-the young woman he tried to kill.

"She wasn't listening to me! I'm her boss, She's my employee!" He argued, standing up and waving his arms, throwing paperwork in the air. Ranger moved to stop him, but I held my arm out.

"She is **not** your employee. And you are not her boss. She has no reason to listen to you… after all, you are _just_ a supervisor. It's not like you do anything for her. Liam, how long has Ally worked for us?" I asked, slowly working my way to Ryan, who was now agitated beyond belief.

"Six months, I believe." He answered, leaning against the far wall near the panoramic windows to the street below.

"And Ryan how long have you known her?" I asked, moving past him to the windows, where a desk with a computer was resting. I started typing my master code and unlocked the laptop.

"Why does it matter?" He hissed, starting to come towards me.

"Curiosity." I felt him moving and turned just in time to land a punch on his nose, stunning him before he could possibly do anything else. "And these records show that you two are… fourth cousins! So you never met her? And you're abusing your cousin? That's low, Ryan. And if you haven't gotten the message, you're fired."

**A/AN: I'm cursing myself for not updating, but school and life got in the way of writing, plus my fiction book started to inspire me more and more, so I'll try to get another update to you within the month!**

**JLRS**


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